Variable-speed gear.



No. 64!,2l9. v Patented JaIiIQ, mum.

E. J. McCLELLAN.

VARIABLE SPEED GEAR.

(Application filed July 8, 1898.) (No Model.) *1 4 SheetsShaet I.

WITNESSES:

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Patented Jan. 9, 1900.

No. 64l,2l9.

' E.. J. MGCLELLAN.

VARIABLE SPEED GEAR.

(Applipatkn filed July 8; 1898.)

(No Model.)

'INVENTOB Unwrap S'ra rns PATENT Omen.

EDXVARD J. MOOLELLAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE GARVIN MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK.

VARIABLE-SPEED GEAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 641,219, dated January 9, 1900.

Application filed July 8,1898. Serial No. 685,413- (No model.)

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. McCLELLAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Manhattan and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Variable-Speed Gear, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to variablespeed to gearing adapted to be applied to machines or machine tools in which it is necessary to change the speed for different kinds of work. The object of the invention is to provide a simple and compact mechanism which may I5 be easily applied to various machines and by which any one of a large number of speeds may be obtained by a simple operation on the part of the workman. The apparatus is ina sense automatic, since by merely rotating a hand-shaft to any given point (indicated by an index) the corresponding change of speed is accomplished.

The invention comprehends an arrangement of four sets of spur-gears, each set con- 2 5 sisting of a plurality of gears of graduated diameters, two sets being arranged on parallel axes and in mesh with each other, While the other two sets are also on parallel axes and in mesh. One set of each pair is tight on its 0 shaft, while the other is loose, and hand-operated devices are provided for locking any one of the loose gears in each of the loose sets to their respective shaftsthat is to say, any one of the loose gears of one set may be locked to its shaft by the same motion which looks any one of the gears of the other loose setand since the motion is transmitted through all four sets a large number of speed changes may be effected with a given number of gears. The in vention also consists of various min or features,together with the details of construction, all of which will be fully described here inafter and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is 5 a plan of the entire speed-changing apparatus, a small portion being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof with a portion of the frame in which the speed-changing mechanism is mounted broken away for the sake of clearness. Fig. 3 isa section on line at a; of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section on line y y of Fig. 1. Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively sectional and edge views of the controllingdisk, and Fig. 7 is a partial view of a modified form of index-disk. The apparatus is preferably constructed in a frame of its own, (represented in the drawings by A,) so that it may be bodily attached to or located inside of the frame of the machine to which it is applied, the last-mentioned frame being indicated at various places in the drawings by B. It will be found convenient, for instance, to place the speedchanging gear in the-hollow standard of a milling or other similar machine where it will be entirely covered to serve as a means for obtaining changes of gear, the operating and power shafts projecting through the wall of the standard for convenient maniputation and application of power.

a is a shaft having bearings in the frame A and projecting outside thereof at one end, where it carries a sliding sprocket-wheel a, to which the driving power is conveyed by means of a chain in the usual way. This sprocket-Wheel is provided With a clutch-face adapted to engage with a corresponding clutch-face on the loose gear-wheel a The hub of the sprocket-wheel is provided with an annular groove, in which a shifting fork a stands. Gear a engages with a pinion b, fixed upon a short shaft 1), havingits bearing in the frame A. The two gears a and l) are removable from their shafts and may be replaced by others of different or reversed diameters. Shaft 1) extends far enough through the frame A to support three gears c 0 c rigidly placed thereon. Its inner end is hollow to furnish a bearing for the end of another shaft g, axially in line therewith, whose other extremity has a bearing in the rear portion of frame A. The gears e c 0 respectively mesh with loose gears d d d on the shaft (1. At the other end of shaft or are three tight gears e e 6 meshing, respectively, with 5 three loose gears f f f on the shaft g. The intermeshing sets of gears are of graduated diameters, the discrepancies between which may be calculated to best suit the requirements. Shaft g carries a sprocket-wheel g, 10:

from which the power is taken by chain to the machine being driven.

Shaft a is hollow for the most part and carries inside a slidable bolt M, to which is pivoted a key a", against which a spring a bears with a tendency to throw the key radially outward through a slot in the side of the shaft and into a notch in the hub of any one of gear-wheels d d d opposite which the end of the key may be located. The shaft is surrounded by a slidable collar a having an annular groove. This collar is connected with the bolt a by a cross-pin a passing through the collar and through a slot a in the shaft and into the bolt. Thus when the collar is moved longitudinally on the shaft the bolt and key must move with it. The same devices are applied to shaft g', the bolt therein being lettered 9 the key g and the collar 9 The key g is adapted to engage with a notch in the hub of any one of the gearsf ff opposite which its extremity may be placed. Between the gears are washers f and the ends of the keys are beveled, so that on shifting the key it is first thrown out of the keyway in one gear before it can engage with another gear.

Now it will be observed that by shifting the key a to engage with a particular gear, or by shifting the key 9 to engage with a particular gear, or by shifting both simultaneously to engage with any of the respective gears the speed of the sprocket-wheel g, which runs the mechanism being driven, may be widely varied. This being Well known to those skilled in the art it is needless to trace out the various speeds; but it will sufflce to merely say that nine different speeds may be obtained in an apparatus of this character involving three gears in each set, and it will be understood that by adding a gear to each set an additionalnumber of combinations may be effected, which would give sixteen speeds. Thus the invention is not limited to anyparticular number of gears in each set. The idea of shifting the keys from one gear to another by hand adjustment is well known; but my invention relates more particularly to the mechanism for automatically accomplishing this.

A shaft I passes at right angles between the two shafts a andg and has its bearings in opposite sides of the frame A; This shaft carries two arms h and h, respectively, loose thereon, and each provided with a lug 72. that extends into the annular grooves of the respective collars g and 0/7. By swinging these arms the collars, and consequently the keys, are caused to move longitudinally on their shafts g and a. The face of each arm h h is provided with a groove h In the groove of arm h a crank-pinj stands,whicl1 is carried by a crank j, loosely mounted on a stud 9' The hub of this crank carries a four-pointed or Geneva star-wheel 7' the points of which are slotted radially, as shown atj Fig. 2. Asimilararrangement of crank and star-wheel is applied to the arm h,the star-wheel being lettered the crank R and the crank-pin 10 but the two star-wheels are in different parallel planes.

Shaft I carries rigidly a controlling-disk L, having two annular flanges l and Z, forming between them a wide annular groove, into which the peripheries of the star-wheels project, one standing adjacent to one of the flanges,while the other stands adjacent to the other flange. The curved lines connecting the points of the star-wheels are formed ona circle conforming to the periphery of the controlling-disk, so that when these two curved surfaces face each other the star-wheels are prevented from rotating; but certain portions of the periphery of the controlling-disk in the bottom of its annular groove are cut away, as indicated at Z to permit the star-wheels to turn. The star-wheels are turned by means of transverse pins p, which project through the flanges of the controlling-disk into the annular groove. The pins projecting through one flange are intended to operate on the star- Wheel standing adjacent to that fiange,while the pins in the other flange operate upon the other star-wheel. These pins act upon the star-wheel when the controlling-disk is rotated by passing into the radial slots in the points of the star-wheel. Thus the cut-away portions Z of the disk must be located opposite each pin. The angular positions and the distances apart of these pins determine when the star-Wheels are to be rotated. Each pin as it passes a star-wheel will rotate it through an arc of ninety degrees, and if a second pin immediately follows the first it will continue the rotation of the star-wheel for another ninety degrees, and so on as long as the pins continue to follow each other at distances apart equal to the distances between the points of the star-wheel. The pins may act upon the two star-wheels simultaneously or one at a time, and two or more pins may act successively on one star-wheel while one or more are acting upon the, other.

The shaft I projects outside of the main frame of the machine and is there fitted with a crank-disk I, having a handle t, by which it may be rotated. It is also provided around its periphery with a series of notches 1?, each of which corresponds with one of the speeds which the apparatus affords.

M is a locking-lever pivoted at m and having handle m, by which it maybe raised and lowered. One end of this lever is adapted to engage with the notches in the crank-disk I, while the other connects with the fork a engagingthehub ofsprocket-wheela. When the lever is lifted out of a notch in the crankdisk, the sprocket-Wheel is simultaneously thrown out of engagement with the gear 0. thus stopping the mechanism, and,vice versa, when the lever engages a notch of the crankdisk the sprocket-wheel engages the gear and motion is transmitted to the same. The crank-disk may be used as an index by giving a number or character to each notch representing the corresponding speed, and to adjust the machine to a particular speed the crank-disk is rotated until the notch representing it is brought to a position where it may be engaged by the end of lever M. The notches are spaced around the periphery of the disk with reference to the positions of both rows of pins in the controlling-disk.

- Thus in moving from one notch to another disk.

of the crank-disk, whether they be successive notches or not, one or both of the starwheels may be rotated.

In Fig. 7 I have represented an automatic device whereby the stopping and starting of the mechanism through lever M is accomplished by the mere act of rotating the index- For this purpose the index-disk is made in two parts q and q, one having a limited independent movement of the other determined by the key (1 and slot The peripheries of bothdisks are notched; but the notches of one has inclined sides. The end of lever M rests in both notches at once. The first movement of the disk-handle throws the inclined side of one notch against the end of the lever and lifts it out of both notches, after which the disks travel together and may be set to any other pair of notches.

In operation the workman desiring to change the speed from one ratio to another first lifts the lever M out of engagement with the crank-disk I and then rotates the crankdisk until the notch representing the ratio of speed desired is brought under the end of the locking-lever. apparatus is necessarily stopped because of the disengagement of the clutch between the driving-sprocket a and the adjacent gear (L The rotation of the crank-disk turns shaft I, and consequently the controlling-disk L, which carries one or more of its pins succes sively into engagement with one or both of the star-wheels, and they in rotating swing the cranks attached to them through an arc of ninety degrees for each pin operating. If we assume that in starting the position of the parts is that shown in Fig. 2, the first pin acting on the star-wheel will throw arm h into a vertical position, which will suffice to carry the key g out of engagement with the pinion f and into engagement with pinion f. If a second pin thereafter acts upon the same star-wheel, it will carry the key from pinion f to pinionf and in doing so will move the arm h to the left of its vertical position to the same angle in which it stood at the start, while the crank will be in a horizontal position. If then a third pin acts upon the starwheehthe crank will be rotated another ninety degrees and the arm h will move back to the vertical position and another pin would carry the arm back to the starting position. Thus the key will have traveled from the pinion f into engagement successively with pinions f and fand back againto f and f This complete cycle of movement might have taken During this rotation the place while the key a was traveling from one pinion to the next or from one pinion to the next but one, and so it will be seen that by properly plotting out the position of the pins in the controlling-disk and the relative positions of the notches in the crank-disk any one of the several speeds afforded by the apparatus may be obtained with no greater requirement upon the operator than the mere rotation of the crank-disk from point to point.

It will be observed in Fig. 6 that some of the pins extend entirely across from one flange to the other. This is optional, but is convenient when two pins occur at the same points on the periphery of the disk. I

A number of variations of speed could be obtained by using only one of the'arms h, one star-wheel, and one row of pins in the controlling-disk, acting, of course, to shift a single key; but since the double arrangement described can be used without complications and without entailing more effort or attention on the part of the workman it will be found advantageous to use the machine as described, since itis capable of giving a much larger number of changes.

The controlling-disk may be in two parts that is, two wheels, each provided with pinsso long as they are both rotated by the same shaft.

There are various ways in which the loose gears may be connected and disconnected from their shafts, and my invention obviously is not limited to the sliding key described. If desired, also, the sets of gears described herein as being tight on their shafts may, one or more, be loose thereon and coupled at will by the same character of mechanism. The invention is not limited to spurgearing entirely. Obviously sprocket wheels and chains could be substituted for the intermeshing gears described, in which case one or more sets of wheels may be all of the same diameter, while those with which they are directly connected are graduated.

Instead of using four distinct sets of gears the number may be reduced to three by having a third set of gears meshing directly with the second set, thus having three cones of gears meshing successively together, and to this arrangement my controlling device operated by one handle is equally well adapted.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a variable-speed gear, two sets of loose gears each having gears of graduated diameters, a shifting key for each set whereby any one of a set may be locked to its shaft, acontrolling device determining the position of the keys and two sets of connections between the controlling device and the two keys respectively whereby the motions of the former are imparted to the latter.

2. In a variable-speed gear, two sets of loose gears each having gears of graduated diameters, a shifting key for each set whereby any one of a set may be locked to its shaft, a controlling device acting simultaneously upon both keys and determining the position of the keys and independent connections between the controlling device and each key whereby the motions of the former are imparted to the latter.

3. In a variable-speed gear, two sets of loose gears each having gears of graduated diameters, a shifting key for each set whereby any one of a set may be locked to its shaft and a controlling device acting simultaneously but indepen dently on each key to fix the position thereof.

4. In a variable-speed gear,the combination of two sets of gears of graduated diameters meshing with each other, one set being loose on its shaft, a slidable key adapted to look any one of the loose gears to the shaft, a slidable collar on the shaft, a pivoted arm loosely engaging said collar, a crank engaging and adapted to swing said arm, a pointed wheel carrying the crank and a rotary disk provided with projections arranged to engage with the points of the pointed wheel to impart motion thereto and so to the key, substantially as described.

5. In avariable-speed gear, two sets of loose gears each having gears of graduated diameters, a shifting key for each set whereby any one of a set may be locked to its shaft, a controlling device consisting of a disk provided with two sets of projections, two wheels adapted to be engaged and rotated respectively, by the sets of projections and connections between the wheels I and the respective keys whereby the latter are moved by the wheels, substantially as described.

6. In a Variable-speed gear, two sets of loose gears each having gears of graduated diameters, a shifting key for each set whereby any one of aset may be locked to its shaft, a controlling device consisting of a disk provided with two sets of projections, two wheels adapted to be engaged and rotated respectively, by the sets of projections, a crank carried by each wheel, two independent pivoted arms moved respectively by the cranks and connections between the respective arms and keys whereby the keys are moved by the arms.

7. In a variable-speed gear,the combination of two sets of gears mounted on parallel axes, two other sets mounted respectively on the same axes, one of each set being loose on their shafts, slidable keys adapted to connect any one of the loose gears to its shaft, a slidable collar connected with each key, a shaft arranged between and at right angles to the gear-axes, two levers pivoted on said shaft and respectively engaging the two collars and a controlling device mounted on the intermediate shaft and acting independently upon said levers, for the purpose set forth.

8. In a Variable-speed gear,the combination of two parallel shafts carrying a plurality of intermeshing gears, a key inside of one shaft adapted to look any one of its gears to the shaft, a third shaft carrying a controlling device determining which gear shall be locked, means whereby said third shaft may be rotated and an index disk or pointer attached to the shaft showing the speed for any position of the shaft, substantially as described.

9. In a variable-speed gear, the combination of the speed-changing devices, a clutch transmitting power to the gear and an interlock-' ing connection between the two whereby the clutch is necessarily opened before the speedchanging devices can be operated.

10. In a variable-speed gear the combination of two sets of gears of graduated diameters meshing with each other, one set being loose on its shaft, two other sets of gears of graduated diameters also meshing with each other and one set being loose on its shaft and deriving their motion from the first two sets and a single mechanism for connecting or dis connecting any one of the loose gears in either set, substantially as described.

11. In a variable-speed gear, the combination of two sets of gears of graduated diameters meshing with each other, one set being looseon its shaft, two other sets of gears of graduated diameters also meshing with each other and one set being loose on its shaft and deriving their motion from the first two sets and means for simultaneously connecting 0r disconnecting any one of the loose gears in the respective sets, and a single operating-handle for controlling said means, substantially as described.

12. In a variable-speed gear the combination of a plurality of sets of wheels connected in a train, means whereby any particular wheel in two or more sets may be connected or disconnected from its shaft and a single controlling mechanism arranged to make all of said connections or disconnections, substantially as described.

13. The combination in a variable-speed gear, of a set of gears of graduated diameters engaging with another set of gears and a second double set of gears of various diameters engaging together and deriving their motion from the first group, and a single controlling mechanism for independently throwing any pair of each group of gears into simultaneous cooperative action,substantially as described.

14. The combination in a variable-speed gear, of a set of gears of graduated diameters engaging with another set of gears, and a second group of gears of various diameters c011- nected with and deriving their motion from the first group, and suitable controlling mechanism operated by one handle, for throwing any pair of each connecting group of gears into simultaneous cooperative action, substantially as described.

15. The combination in a variable-speed gear, of a set of gears of graduated diameters engaging with another set of gears, and a second group of gears of various diameters connected With and deriving their motion from movement of the operating-handle, substanthe first group, suitable controlling mechantially as described. 10 ism operated by one handle for throwing any In witness whereof I subscribe my signapair of each connecting group of gears indeture in presence of twowitnesses'.

5 pendently into simultaneous cooperative ac- EDWARD J. MOCLELLAN.

tion, and an index connected to said control- Witnesses: ling mechanism, automatically indicating the JOHN T. WILLIAMS,

speed simultaneously with the corresponding CHAS. T. LUTHER. 

